Brink of Consciousness 2: Lonely Hearts Murders (Collector’s Edition)

This game is actually a prequel to the other one, NOT the sequel even if it’s labeled as #2. But it was all right. I could use some background information on that lunatic Oscar, considering how the past one was left off with so many unknown questions.

Anyway, the story began with the disappearance of several townspeople, mostly young and from the high class society. The year was 1890 in England. At that time, the madman in town was known by the nickname of the Lonely Hearts Killer. A young woman by the name of Olivia Wright, the daughter of Owen Wright–whether linked to the Lonely Hearts Killer or not, had disappeared of recent. Her father, Mr. Wright, sought out his detective friend, Logan Green, to search for Olivia. Detective Logan Green was actually the detective in charge of the Lonely Hearts Killer case. He ended up recruiting Mr. Wright to help him in the case, even forcing one of the newbies Jayden Evans, into giving Mr. Wright a permit to enter his office as seen fit at times. (Owen Wright was actually a former officer and Logan Green’s partner at one time, or so it seemed from their conversations and interactions about past cases where they worked together so that was also why Logan Green was even allowing Owen to tag along and help him with the case, knowing he could use a second opinion and that Owen wouldn’t just sit around and wait for the results.)

As the story moved along, though Logan Green was the detective, but as the player, we took on the role of Owen Wright in trying to explore and find different clues leading to his missing daughter, Olivia. Many more characters were involved in this story and the suspect list got more interesting. As for the setting, the various scenery and houses made the plot non-repetitive from the first part, since it was more running around town versus within the property of the maniac. Given the plot details, it made sense. The townspeople often gathered at places to discuss the latest town scare. However, a particular group, including Charlotte, Matilda, Leonard Bain, Archie Thompson, and Johnathan Kirk often meet up to play poker. The first clue given to us as to the link of the murders and the crazy Oscar later on in his life (during the first part) was how Madame Matilda had mentioned that her nephew wanted to name his son Oscar and would take him hunting later on.

The Lonely Hearts Killer actually got his nickname because he only killed people who were broken-hearted–whether because their beloved had died or they have been betrayed by love. What was more, he often set them up at the scene – like a piece of artwork along with a yellow lotus. Before putting them at some arranged scene though, he had imprisoned them for 30 days and then poisoned them with gas. Then he would remove their hearts, signifying that he was trying to cleanse their hearts of all the pain,etc. (Sounds familiar with the sick set up of themes and incorporating it to justify the murders?) Peter Ross, Dr. Benjamin Ross’ son–the latest victim–I had forgotten what really happened to him. But Elizabeth Kirk, the second body found–as of the story went at that point, just received the news that her fiance just died at sea. She disappeared soon after that yet no one reported her missing because she was known for running away from home or disappearing without telling anyone. It wasn’t until her body turned up that her uncle, Johnathan Kirk, realized his mistake.

Anyway, after some more investigation from both Detective Logan Green and Owen Wright, they brushed with and escaped death several times. Of course the killer was among them and had watched their every move, wanting to sabotage them at every turn. It was a true murder mystery. The suspect list was getting blurry because of more disappearances and accusations thrown around. Yet the ending didn’t disappoint at all. You will understand why some of the last names weren’t revealed in the first place. They kept the suspense to the end. Until the last scene to connect the actual dot. (I don’t want to spoil the real killer or the ending for anyone because it was truly intriguing to travel on that journey with finding clues, solving puzzles, and being led astray. It’s part of the whole experience!)

The bonus chapter followed the course of the last scene in the main game. Jayden Evans was seen in Detective Logan Green’s office reporting of what he managed to find out via scorching some old records. Though taking his precious time to report the matter, he had told Detective Green that he had already put out a warrant for a certain person that had some connection with the Lonely Hearts Killer–both family connection and the role of an accomplice in all the past murders of all those townspeople. Unfortunately, the accomplice had already fled the town (obviously since it would be a short time before someone put two and two together). So Detective Green and Jayden Evans had to travel to Scotland to hunt down the Lonely Hearts Killer’s accomplice. It was about time Detective Green did some real work, right? (LOL)

Like the main game, the rest of the bonus chapter contained puzzles and other hidden object scenes in aid of the clue searching, along with the combining of objects once again thus in the end lead to finding the accomplice. It also connected some more dots along the way as to answer some of the questions about Oscar–the villain in the first game–and how he got influenced with continuing this killing massacre within their family line.

I highly encourage those who have the CE version to watch the interview in the “Extras” sections. It explains even more into the story of the game and how they developed different stages, etc.